DIY - Charity Shop Shirt to Collar and Skirt - Part 2 - The Skirt

Turning the shirt into a skirt is a little bit harder than just doing the collar! And it also takes a little longer but its still fairly easy! :) For Part 1 - How to DIY the collar check out the previous post here :)

So you've now got a collarless shirt, you need to measure from your waist down to where on your leg you want the skirt to end. Add about 5 cm to this number to account for the waistband and hem. Then lay your shirt down on a flat surface and measure from the bottom of the skirt the length that you just got. Get some lovely big sharp scissors and make sure you cut a straight line across. I used a sleeveless shirt for this so I didn't need to cut the sleeves off. If you have sleeves on the shirt, just chop them off, it doesn't have to be that neat, just straight.

Next you need to pin the rest of the shirt up the front, where it should button up. Try to keep it as straight and as neat as possible.

Then you need to measure the length of your elastic, mine was 2 cm. Measure about 5 cm down from the top of your shirt and mark it with a pen or a piece of chalk all the way around. You also need to cut the across the top with pinking shears to stop it from fraying. If you don't have any of these scissors, just stitch a straight line across the top, about 5 mm to the edge.

 Pin it down so that the edge meets up with the marked line, you're essentially folding it in half.

Sew a straight line across about 5 mm away from the edge, making sure you take out your pins!

 

Now you should have a kind of loop going all the way around the top of your skirt. Take your elastic and cut it to the length of the circumference of your waist. Then put a safety pin through one end of the elastic and start to thread it through the gap you just made. Make sure you don't pull it all the way through, use a pin to secure it to one end.

 Take the safety pin and any other pins out and sew your elastic together. The skirt should be slightly scrunched at the waistband.

Next, you need to sew up the sleeves, this completes the side seams. Pin the edges of the gaps together (where the sleeves would have been).

Then you just need to sew a straight stitch up the side seam and over the elastic waistband.

And VOILA! You have a bright printed skirt! :)

This is how I styled it, using the matching collar as an accessory :) Happy DIYing! 

DIY - Charity Shop Shirt to Collar and Skirt - Part 1 - The Collar

About once a month, I go around all the charity shops in Urmston (of which there are many) and try and find any nice clothes, bags or books etc. And in one of them, I found this disgustingly ugly, painfully bright shirt. But I actually kinda liked it, so snapped up it for a measly £3! Obviously though, I wasn't gonna keep it as a shirt, as I didn't feel like looking like one of those old grannies who lives in a 'community' and plays bowls. SO, the DIY ideas began and I ended up making a collar and skirt :) Instructions below for the collar! Part 2 - The Skirt up soon! :)  

What you need:

• An Ugly Shirt
• Scissors
• Pinking Shears
• Needle and Thread
• Hook + Eye
• Small Embroidery Scissors
• Elastic (for the waistband)
• Pins
• Sewing Machine (you can hand-sew but it takes a while)

First off you need to remove your collar from your shirt, dead easy! Just get a pair of small embroidery scissors or an unpicker and cut the stitches in the seam!

Your collar should now be completely separate from your shirt.

Your collar will have 2 pieces, a top and bottom, you need to resew these together, unless they are still sealed up.

Fold each side in by about 1 cm, then pin through both sides.

Do this along the whole of the collars edge, leaving your pins about 2 or 3 cm apart.

Now you need to sew, you can do this by hand but it will most likely take longer and not be as neat. With the presser foot in the up position, pop one end of your collar under the needle. Then put the presser foot down and lower the needle down into the fabric by using the wheel. Make sure you DON'T SEW OVER YOUR PINS. You could break your needle, or your machine, or both.. So just take them out as you sew.

It should be all sewn up :)

You just need to add a hook & eye so that it closes. All you do is position your hook and eye on each side of the inside of the collar, making sure they match up, then sew it on, try not to go through to the other side of the collar, cos it can look a bit scruffy. Instead just 'pick-up' a tiny bit of the fabric with your needle then push your needle through the holes in the hook.

Et Voila! You have a collar! 

See Part 2 - How to Make the Skirt here